Portret van paus Pius IX 1820 - 1870

This is Johann Peter Berghaus's "Portret van paus Pius IX," an engraving made after a medal. While undated, the inscription below the portrait references 1846, the year Pius IX ascended to the papacy. The print offers us an entry point into the complex relationship between religious authority and political identity. Pius IX's papacy was marked by significant social and political upheaval, including the Italian unification movement which challenged the power of the Papal States. His legacy is hotly contested even to this day. The image itself, based on a medal, is telling. Medals were often created to commemorate or celebrate individuals and events, but here we get an image of an image. Berghaus’s print thus acts as a copy removed from the original and then further disseminated. It's a portrait of power, mediated and reproduced. What does it mean to reproduce power? What is lost? What is gained?